


Foundations

by carolinecrane



Series: Laying Foundations [1]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-26
Updated: 2010-09-26
Packaged: 2017-10-12 05:25:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/121265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinecrane/pseuds/carolinecrane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgan shows Reid the merits of working with your hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Foundations

Derek's got four houses on his hands right now; one that's on the market, one he just bought and hasn't set foot in since, one that's waiting for the electrician to show up and do his thing, and this one.

This one he's taken his time with, spent longer than he should have going over every single detail. The original moldings have been salvaged whenever possible, and he spent a lot more than he normally would have to replace the rest with authentic replicas. He's researched the right colors for the period, and every plant that went into the landscaping could have been found in the front yard on the day the house was built.

He always puts a lot of care and attention into his remodels, but there's something special about this one. He can't even say why; it's not nostalgia for some childhood he never had, and it's not because he thinks he can make more on it if he makes sure all the details are perfect. In fact, he's losing money every day he keeps this one off the market, and in this market, that's just asking for trouble.

Still, he's having trouble letting this one go, and he can't really say why. All he knows is it's the first house he didn't remodel alone, and he's sorry to see the project ending.

Not that he went looking for a partner. Flipping houses is something he's always done solo; he likes the silence, likes the sweat and the fact that he doesn't have to _think_ while he's swinging a hammer. He doesn't think about his day job, anyway, not when he can help it. If he focuses on measuring and cutting, tearing down and building back up, he can block out the faces of all the people they don't manage to save.

He's tried everything to block out those faces; sex, drinking, partying, but nothing ever worked until this. Nothing worked but hard work and sweat and sometimes blood, when he stayed at it a little too late into the night. And even then it felt good to end the day covered in sawdust and paint, with something real and solid to show for all his work, something that wouldn't keep him up at night.

So he didn't set out to drag his day job into this, but there it is anyway, wiping sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

"You ready for a break, man?" Morgan asks, and when Spencer looks up and nods Morgan remembers how they got here. The first time he brought Reid to the house was after one of those cases none of them could let go, the kind that keeps you up at night mostly because you just don't want to dream about it. Manual labor has always helped Derek with that problem, so all it took was one look at Reid's bloodshot eyes and dark circles for Derek to drag him out of the office and straight to this house.

In the beginning he wasn't all that sure Reid would even like renovation, but it turned out he was pretty good with his hands. That brain of his helped; he could practically skip the measuring and still make nearly perfect cuts, and he'd figured out some of the wiring problems without having to wait for the electrician to fit them in. On top of that, he seemed to enjoy it, so after that first time, Derek started bringing him out whenever they had a few hours to spare.

He can't remember stocking the fridge, but somehow they've ended up with a decent supply of beer and sodas and enough leftover Chinese food to call it dinner. They eat right out of the cartons, sitting shoulder to shoulder on the kitchen counter.

"Watch the cabinets," Derek warns when Reid swings his legs, but he grins to let Spencer know he doesn't really mean it. The truth is it's just nice to see him relax, and when Reid smiles back at him Derek knows he's in way too deep. He sure as hell didn't mean for this to happen, but it explains why he's been dragging his feet about putting the house on the market. Only he's running out of excuses to keep the project going, and sooner or later he's going to have to let this one go.

"Fireplace is almost done," Reid points out, gesturing with his chopsticks at the mantle they've spent the afternoon installing. "As soon as we hook up the gas it's ready."

"Yep."

"Did we finish the upstairs? I thought we were replacing the closet doors."

"We hung them last weekend, remember?"

"Oh. Right," Reid says, frowning down at his cold Kung Pau Chicken for a second. "What about the guest bathroom?"

"What about it?" Morgan asks, and he knows he's staring, but Reid never seems to notice, so he doesn't try to stop himself. He likes watching Reid _think_ , and yeah, he's completely screwed.

"It's kind of dated, don't you think? People hate tiled walls."

It's true, and Derek had thought about taking the tile out when he first bought the place. He'd decided to leave it when he read that it was authentic to the period, though, and he hasn't thought about it since.

"It's historically accurate."

"Sure, but it's a bathroom. People like modern kitchens and baths, isn't that the rule?"

"Yeah, it is," Derek answers, bumping Reid's shoulder with his own. "Listen to you, sounding like an expert all of a sudden."

"I'm a quick learner," Reid says with a little shrug, and Derek can't help laughing.

"Okay," he says, and a weight lifts somewhere inside him. "Okay, so we redo the bathroom. It'll add a couple weeks to the schedule."

"Is that a bad thing?"

The answer is yes, at least if Derek plans to make any money at all off this house. But that was never really the point of these things, and somehow with this house it's stopped mattering at all. "Whatever it takes to do the job right."


End file.
